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Friday, November 16, 2012

Entry 162: Avengers Covers 4,5,6

Okay! Finally! Covers!

As promised, this is my entry about my covers for Avengers #4,5,and 6. I am a man of my word. Three covers for the price of one blog entry-- What a deal! Is any other comic artist's blog bringing you deals this good? I DON'T THINK SO! I'm practically giving blog content away here. Blogtent.

So yeah! What you see above is my cover for Avengers #5.

And here is cover #4 (without the logo this time) followed by cover #6

(I'll have to make sure all my covers don't become a hand reaching out cover.)

So why am I posting about these three covers all together? Well because originally I had this idea.

That's right! I was going to continue the image from covers 1,2,3. This was the idea almost from the start. I wanted to have covers 4, 5, and 6 come out one at a time and slowly reveal the full 180 turn.

But this idea had a few problems-- The first is that by turning the camera a full 180 degrees you end up seeing the backs of peoples heads. It's not the best way to showcase our three new Avengers characters. The other big problem was that I needed a good villainous element for them to be facing and I didn't really have one that made sense for this series.

Those problems aside, I loved this idea. I don't think I've seen this sort of thing before and it was really exciting to me. But I went ahead and did sketches for stand alone covers just to offer an alternative.

Jonathan and the folks in editorial basically said I could go ether way. They liked both ideas, the connected image and the single images. So it was up to me to decide. I went with the single images because they just did the job better, and the connected image just didn't quite work, as much as I liked the idea.

And that's why I wanted to talk about these three covers all at once.

(A quick note: Captain Universe has a different design in the connected image because, at the time, I didn't know what she would look like.)

Really impressive space dustin', Dustin. Coincidentally I have a custom comic that features myself and Captain Universe from the 90s. Did you ever hear of those custom comics that printed Your name in the book to make You a part of the story! Yep, in fact I think it was revealed that I myself was Captain Universe. I can't remember...I'll have to dig that comic out. Anyway, fine looking images. Well done!

Good God, those are beautiful covers, Dustin.I think you made the right choice with the stand-alone covers, although I do love the way 1,2, & 3 connect.(When you had mentioned the possibility of connecting covers after issue 3, I had imagined a threat moving from right to left on covers 4,5, & 6. I like the 180 turn idea, but it's hard to beat the impact of the individual covers we see here. Did you color these as well? If you did, cheers, man - knockout job. )

Really looking forward to seeing your interior art in issues 7,8, & 9.With such a large cast, has there been any one character that has proven to be an unexpected pleasure to draw? One that sort of took you by surprise?

Vote seconded on seeing the remaining SHIELD issues.Can't wait to see how it wraps up.

I didn't color these covers. They were colored by Justin Ponsor, like the first 3. (I should have said that in the entry. I'll have to go put that in.) Justin is one of the best in the biz and has been on a short list of names I've given anytime editors ask me who I'd want on colors. I'm really happy to be working with him, and I'm even more happy to say that he'll be coloring my issues as well.

I've enjoyed drawing Tony Stark/ Iron Man, which is really no surprise. Having drawn Howard Stark so much, drawing Tony feels familiar. And drawing the iron Man suit is right up my alley, seeing as I like drawing tech stuff.

Oh and I had considered the idea of having covers 4-6 build off the left side of the 1-3 image. But I agree that the stand alone single images were the best way to go. No regrets.

Well, it's a little late for that. I do appreciate your enthusiasm for the idea though. It was a tough decision going with the stand alone images, but I stand by it. I still like the 180 idea. Maybe I'll use it some other time. Or someone else can do it-- I don't care.

OMG!! What's the matter with you?! That 180 degree idea look f-ing epic! You should have done that. At least make this into a poster or something so I can hang it in my room. But I find it funny that you have Shang Chi doing a flying kick off a skyscraper and he can't even fly! lol. As for who they're about to fight, idk, maybe a new and larger Masters of Evil or just some of those bugs/aliens from the first arc that landed on Earth?